09/26/2012

Spike Lee Finishing Michael Jackson Documentary

Movie focuses on the singer's 'Bad' album. By Gil Kaufman

<P>Director Spike Lee is finishing work on an upcoming documentary about <a href="http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/jackson_michael/artist.jhtml">Michael Jackson's</a> landmark 1987 <I>Bad</I> album that will give fans a behind-the-scenes look at the <I>Thriller</I> follow-up that has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide.</P><P>Lee, who was friends with the late pop king and directed the official video for the posthumous single <a href="/news/articles/1623590/michael-jacksons-this-it-single-debuts-online.jhtml">"This Is It,"</a>&#8232;, said he learned a lot about MJ while making the as-yet-untitled movie.</P><P></p><div class="player-placeholder right" title="Behind The Scenes Of 'Michael Jackson The Immortal World Tour'" id="vid:755805" width="415" height="255"></div><p></P><P>According to the <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/spike-lee-michael-jackson-bad-documentary-347297" target="_blank"><I>Hollywood Reporter</I></a>, the movie will be part of a celebration of the 25th anniversary of <I>Bad</I>. "We have footage in this documentary that no one's ever seen, stuff that Michael shot himself, behind-the-scenes stuff," Lee said. "We had complete access to the vaults of Michael Jackson. ... He wrote 60 demos for the <I>Bad</I> record. Only 11 made it. So we got to hear a lot of that stuff, too, so it was just a great experience ... You don't have to be a Michael Jackson-head to enjoy this." <I>Bad</I>, which was released more than five years after Jackson's breakthrough, <I>Thriller</I>, the best-selling album of all time, is also one of the all-time top-sellers. In a record tied by Katy Perry last year, it spawned five Hot 100 #1 singles, including "I Just Can't Stop Loving You," "Bad," "The Way You Make Me Feel," "Man in the Mirror" and "Dirty Diana."</P><P>The 25th anniversary re-release of <I>Bad</I> will hit shelves on September 18 and feature additional tracks, a DVD and other material. No release date has been announced yet for Lee's documentary, though it is slated to hit screens this year.</P><P>Lee sat down with everyone from Kanye West to Mariah Carey and Sheryl Crow (who was a back-up singer on the <I>Bad</I> tour) for the film, which he said will show fans a more personal, funny side of MJ. "We really divided it into two things: Artists today who were influenced by Michael, and then people who worked side by side - musicians, songwriters, technicians, engineers, people at the label, who were all committed to Michael, to the follow-up to the biggest record of all time, which still is <I>Thriller</I>," he said.</P><P>A doc chronicling Jackson's rehearsals for what was to be his series of comeback shows, <a href="/news/articles/1625274/michael-jacksons-this-it-has-strong-international-debut.jhtml">"This Is It,"</a>&#8232; was released in 2009 and became one of the highest-grossing music docs of all time.</P><P><a href="http://www.mtv.com/photos/?fid=1617615"><img src="http://www.mtv.com/news/photos/s/spotted/banner/spotted.jpg"></a></P>